For many years, rocking chairs have been popular furniture pieces in the home. The repetitive rocking motion of the chair can be quite relaxing and comforting to a seated occupant. In addition, the appearance of the rocking chair is such that it can be used with a variety of furniture styles, particularly traditional styles with a heavy emphasis on visible wood.
In recent years, furniture designers have looked for alternatives to rocking chairs that can provide a similarly relaxing repetitive motion. One alternative has been the gliding chair, or "glider", which includes structure that enables the seat portion of the chair to "glide" forwardly and rearwardly relative to its base to mimic generally the rocking motion of a rocking chair. Often the gliding structure comprises a set of swing links (usually two at the front of the chair, and two at the rear) that are pivotally attached at their upper ends to the base and extend downwardly therefrom to attach to a structure, such as a mounting bracket, that is attached to the seat. In this configuration, the seat is suspended from the base and is free to swing forwardly and rearwardly in a double pendulum-type motion in response to a forwardly or rearwardly-directed force applied by a seated occupant. The gliding path of the chair is controlled by the configuration and mounting of the swing links. These chairs can be constructed to resemble traditional rocking chairs and thus are quite popular.
Another type of seating unit that has become popular is the recliner chair. Recliners typically include some type of mechanism that, when actuated, causes the seat and backrest of the recliner to pivot relative to the base in order to place an occupant of the seating unit in a reclined position. Also, many recliners include an extendable footrest, or "ottoman," that extends forwardly of the seat and retracts beneath the seat as desired.
Reclining capability has been combined with gliding capability in a single unit to provide a chair that both reclines and glides. This chair includes a reclining mechanism that enables it to move between upright and one or more reclined positions, and further includes the aforementioned swing links attached between the base and the seat, armrests, or mechanism itself to enable the chair to glide. Examples of such chairs are illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,536,029 and 4,544,201, both to Rogers, Jr., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Despite their popularity, gliders, and in particular glider-recliners, have proven to have certain shortcomings. One concern with gliders is that the swing links can cause the chair to be somewhat noisy while gliding. Such noise is produced by the interaction between the swing links and the components to which they are mounted; as the swing links pivot, they rub against their respective mounting locations, which can produce squeaking. As a result, manufacturers of gliders typically lubricate these areas heavily. In addition, the rubbing interaction of the swing links against their mounting points can also cause the swing links to "catch" as the surfaces wear. As a result, the occupant of the chair may sense a less smooth gliding motion than would be preferred. The prior art is silent regarding solutions to these problems.